Sectional component endless parking elevator

ABSTRACT

A PARKING ELEVATOR WHEREIN PLATFORMS FOR THE CARS ARE CIRCULATED ON AN ENDLESS BELT TO DIFFERENT HEIGHTS, THE HEIGHT OF THE ELEVATOR MAY BE INCREASED BY INTERMEDIATE SECTIONS LOCATED BETWEEN A BOTTOM SECTION AND A TOP SECTION. EACH OF THE ELEVATOR CAGES IS PROVIDED WITH A HORIZONTAL SHAFT WHICH LINK CHAINS CARRY OVER THE UPPER AND LOWER SPROCKETS. THE INTERMEDIATE SECTIONS HAVE POSTS OF A MULTIPLE OF THE LENGTH OF HALF THE LENGTH OF ONE OF THE CHAIN LINKS AND THE POSTS ARE ALSO PROVIDED WITH GUIDING TAPS FOR ENGAGING A FLANGE ON A SUCCEEDING SECTION OF THE ELEVATOR. THE SPROCKET WHEELS CARRY GUIDING ROLLERS AND THE GUIDING ROLLERS RUN IN GROOVES BETWEEN GUIDING RODS. THE GUIDING RODS ARE BENT TO ARCUATE SHAPE IN THE TOP AND BOTTOM SECTIONS OF THE STAND.

United States Primary Examiner-Gerald M. Forlenza AssistantExaminer-Raymond B. Johnson AttorneyWenderoth, Lind and Ponack ABSTRACT:A parking elevator wherein platforms for the cars are circulated on anendless belt to different heights. The height of the elevator may beincreased by intermediate sec tions located between a bottom section anda top section. Each of the elevator cages is provided with a horizontalshaft which link chains carry over the upper and lower sprockets. Theintermediate sections have posts of a multiple of the length of half thelength of one of the chain links and the posts are also provided withguiding taps for engaging a flange on a succeeding section of theelevator. The sprocket wheels carry guiding rollers and the guidingrollers run in grooves between guiding rods. The guiding rods are bentto arcuate shape in the top and bottom sections of the stand.

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I Ll llnvrl lv l ALLorneys SECTIONAL COMPONENT ENDLESS PARKING ELEVATORThis invention relates to a parking elevator and is acontinuation-in-part of the disclosure of the application Ser. No. 51 l838 filed Dec. 6, 1965 now abandoned.

An object of the invention is to improve a parking elevator whichcomprises a stand, elevator cages each having a horizontal shaft, linkchains carrying said shafts, at least upper sprockets journaled on saidstand over which said chains travel, the improvement comprising in saidstand comprising a bottom section and an upper section having bearingsfor said upper sprockets, a plurality of flanged intermediate sectionswith elongated guiding members having a length of a multiple of half thelength of saidchain link arms, said sections having interconnectingtapsfor engagement in adjacent upper and lower sections, each of saidelevator cages being suspended in a shaft having an elongation at eachend, said elongations carrying guiding means having a circumferencesurface in engagement with adjacent edges of said elongated guidingmembers.

A further object of the invention is to provide elongated guide memberseach comprising two rods or tubes of essentially circular cross sectionand guiding means comprising rollers having a circumferential groovecorresponding to the shape of said rods or tubes.

The invention will now be described more in detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings, which are intended merely to elucidate theinvention and not to limit the same. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of the elevator, with certain por tions ofcertain parking cages broken away for clarity,

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the elevator of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 shows on a somewhat larger scale a section approximately on theline III-III in FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 shows in a view from above two parking cages, with some partsbroken away and other shown semischematically,

FIG. 5 shows two sections of the elevator in perspective and in anexploded view, with certain cross braces omitted for clarity,

FIG. 6 is a side elevation of the chain link arms for carrying theparking cages,

FIG. 7 shows the upper delinking sprocket, and

FIG. 8 shows on an enlarged scale the connection between two standportions and a portion ofthe guiding means.

According to FIGS. 1 and 2 the posts 21 of the bottom section 21 of thestand are interconnected by means of a crossbar 28 and support bearings22 for a lower shaft 23 having sprockets 24,25. The bearings 22 areshaped with a device for stretching the chain of parking cages 29 andeach one of these cages comprises a shaft 30, hinge irons 31 and aplatform 32. The bottom section of the stand also comprises a crossbar33 and a longitudinal beam 34. Above the bottom section 21 the standcomprises an arbitrary number of intermediate sections 16 and thisnumber defines the height of the stand. Thus, the height of the standdepends on the chosen number of elevator cages 29 and thus on the numberof parking places for motor vehicles 35. Each intermediate section 16comprises light stand posts.

The spaced stand posts or members of sections 16 are inter connected,see FIG. 5, and are channel-shaped with two guiding tubes 36 provided atone end with vertical taps fitting into the corresponding tubes 36 ofthe section 16 therebelow. The tubes 36 form between them a guide pathfor rollers 38 mounted on the carrying shafts 30 of the cages 29.

The chain carrying the cages 29 comprises link arms 17 and 18 androllers 39 are arranged between the link arms on the ends of the shafts30 for engagement with the sprockets 24, 25 on the bottom section 21 ofthe stand and sprockets 49,50 on the the top section 46 of said stand.The link arms 17 and 18 have a length which is a multiple of half thelength of the posts of the intermediate sections 16.

Each intermediate section also comprises cross stays 42 and 43 in theshape ofe.g. stretching screws for rendering possible an adjustment andstabilization of the stand.

The upper portion 46 of the stand is shaped in the same way as the standposts with tubes 36 forming a guide for the rollers 38. The upperportion 46 further has a crossbar 47 carrying bearings 48 for the uppersprockets 49,50. The crossbar 47 also carries a motor 27 driving asprocket 26 cooperating with a cogwheel 26' on or connected with thesprocket 49 and thus driving the chain for displacing the parking cages29. Cross stays 43 also serve for strengthening the intermediatesections of the stand. An upper longitudinal stand. An upperlongitudinal stay 51 keeps the upper portion 46 together.

By means of the construction described of the stand portions of theelevator according to the invention the various parts could bemanufactured in series at low costs and simultaneously the mounting canbe carried out quite simply without the use of external scaffolds.

A ladder 52 extends from the crossbar 28 up to the crossbar 47 of theupper stand portion 46. Climbing steps 53 are arranged on the bottomposts 21 so as not to interfere with the driving in and off of cars 35to and from the cages 29. Thus, the whole stand could easily be reachedfor service.

A's shown in FIG. 8 the guide path in the posts 16 comprises two tubes36. These tubes are between two sections of the stand interconnected bymeans of taps l5, compare also FIG. 3, such that there is obtained acontinuous and very stable guide path for the rollers 38 on the cageshaft 30.

The mounting can be carried out very easily whereby first bottom section21 is arranged on the ground and then a first intermediate section 16,e.g. by means of a crane is placed on top of the bottom section 21 suchthat the lower taps 15 of the first intermediate section 16 are broughtinto engagement with the guide tubes 36 of the bottom section 21. Theflanges 59, 60 on the posts of said sections are then bolted to eachother and a first cage 29 is put with its rollers 38 in the guide pathbetween the tubes 36 of the sections thus mounted. In the same wayfurther sections 16, each stabilized by a transverse longitudinalconnecting bar 41, are mounted on the top of each other as many asdesired and the stand thus obtained is stabilized by means of the setsof cross stays 42, 43. As sections are placed on the top of each other,cages 29 are inserted into the guide path formed by the tubes 36 andinterconnected by means of link arms 17 and 18. Finally a top section 46is mounted and the link arms 17,18 are connected such that they form anendless chain along the guide path. Thus, there is formed such anendless chain at each side of the stand.

The invention provides a very stable parking elevator, which is easy tomount and to build up to any desired height and all intermediatesections 16 are of identical shape which highly facilitates the mountingand considerably lowers the manufacture costs and the costs for thestock-keeping.

However, the most eminent advantage in the present construction is to beseen in the safety obtained. It could happen that a chain link arm 17 or18 bursts and in most previous constructions of parking elevators such aburst would cause a falling down of all the parking cages, this causinggreat damage. In the present construction the rollers 38 are as shown inthe drawings in good engagement with the guide path 36 and the link armsprevent any long displacement of the guide rollers 38 in event of aburst, as the link arms will be piled upon each other and the onlypossible displacement of the rollers 38 will be the one caused by theplays of the joints between the link arms.

It should be noted that the arrangement of the motor 27 at the topsection 46, gives the advantage that the chain of cages 29 are lifted attheir travel rather than being pushed as if the motor were arranged onthe bottom section 21. This contributes to guide the movements of themobile parts in a way which prevents a clamping or binding of theguiding rollers 38 in the guiding path 36.

The invention has been described in the aforegoing for purposes ofillustration only and is not intended to be restricted by thisdescription or otherwise CIICEPI as defined in the appended claims. Thelink arms could be given many different shapes and do not'necessarilyhave to be straight and a possible shape of them is the U-shapeillustrated in FIG. 2. Further,

the guide path for the rollers 38 must not necessarily comprise twocircular tubes or rods 36 but could comprise side elements of othercross section as long as the guiding means on the parking cage shaftshas a corresponding cross section for obtaining the necessary engagementfor preventing a derailing at a burst of a chain link arm. At the bottomof the stand, there are arranged ramps 62 pivoted at 64 for the drivingof vehicles onto and off the platforms 32.

We claim:

1. A vehicle parking elevator comprising in combination a stand;elevator cages each having vehicle support means and a horizontalsupport shaft; rigid elongated link arms forming chains carrying saidshafts of said cages in series; at least upper sprockets journaled onsaid stand over which said chains travel; said stand comprising a bottomsection and an upper section each having convex surfaced guiding means;said upper section having bearings for said upper sprockets; at leastone flanged intermediate section of the stand, with said intermediatesection having elongated guiding members with oppositely spaced sideedges and which also have correspondingly convexed surfaces foralignment with those guiding members on said bottom and upper sectionsof the stand; each intermediate section being of an upright length of amultiple of one-half the length of one of the link arms; said guidingmeans being connected with the respective bottom and upper sectionguiding means; each intermediate section comprising two pairs ofoppositely spaced flanged post members with means interconnecting eachpair in substantially coplanar relationship, and further meansinterconnecting said two pairs of members in opposed relationshipsufficiently apart to ac commodate said elevator parking cagetherebetween, said guide members of each intermediate section beingmounted on said post members; each of said sections havinginterconnected taps for relative cooperative engagement in adjacentupper and lower sections; each of said elevator cages including andbeing suspended on said shaft and having at each shaft end an extensioncarrying other guiding means of antifriction character for coaction withthe first-mentioned guiding means, said other guiding means having acircumference or peripheral surface in antifriction engagement with theopposed side edges of said elongated guiding members.

2. A parking elevator as defined in claim 1 wherein the combinationfurther comprises like elongated convex guiding members disposed in anendless circuit including two parallel rods of essentially circularcross section and the other guiding means on the cage shaft extensionare in the shape of guiding antifriction rollers having acircumferential groove the radius of which complementally corresponds tothe radius of the cross section of the guiding rods.

3. A parking elevator as defined in claim 2 further including aplurality of stacked intermediate sections between the lower and uppersections, and a pair of taps (15) on the lower ends of the guidingmembers (36) of each section for engagement in corresponding recesses inthe ends of guiding members (36) of the next lower section.

4. A parking elevator as claimed in claim 1 wherein the combinationfurl-her comprises U-shaped rigid chain link arms (17,18) which, due tothe rigidity and guiding means confining same provides safety means topreclude excessive drop in the event a link breaks.

5. A parking elevator as defined in claim 1 wherein the combinationfurther comprises a driving motor (27) and means therewith arranged atthe top section (46) adapted to cause the travel of the chain of parkingcages (29) in an upward pulling direction to facilitate more frictionfree movement of the elevator cages in the guiding means by precludingthe guiding rollers from otherwise having a tendency to bind against therod guiding means.

6. A parking elevator as defined in claim 1 wherein the parking cagesinclude a platform support, and further including a pivotal ramp meansat the bottom of the elevator stand, and pivotally movable fordisposition adjacent the vehicle support platform to facilitate drivingonto and off of said parking cages when in predetermined loading andunloading COl'ldltions respectively.

